Funded Internships

The Funded Internship Program awards students $6,000 grants (with an additional $1,000 expenses supplement for student on aid) to pursue internship experiences that would otherwise not be paid. Grants are awarded for all career fields—from research to arts, nonprofit to government. First-, second-, and third-year students are eligible to apply and may be awarded no more than one grant in their three years of eligibility.

CXD Funded Internships support entrepreneurs, artists, scientists, activists, and lifelong learners. No matter what you are interested in experiencing next on your career journey, we want to support your growth by relieving the financial burden.

Here is just a fraction of things students can experience with CXD Funded Internships Grants:

• 
  Increasing Literary Representation in Classrooms

  Lori Hashasian ‘25​ worked with Pride and Less Prejudice, a nonprofit that has already donated over 9,200 LGBTQ-inclusive books to classrooms across the country.
• 
  Studying Microplastics

  Elizabeth Chmielewski '26 worked at the Burkholder Lab at the University of New England assisting a graduate student conducting research on the impact of microplastics on food safety.
• 
  Working for an Aerospace Company

  Sam Bonauto ‘25​ worked with bluShift ​Aerospace, a company that focuses on small research satellites launched from Brunswick, Maine.

Meet all Funded Internship Grantees

Application Timeline

1. Secure an internship.
2. Apply. Check out this resource on Handshake for application instructions and deadline.
3. Interviews. A committee will review your application and, if more information is needed, will invite you for an interview.
4. Decisions. Candidates will be notified of funding decisions within three weeks of the application deadline (mid to late April).

What We Ask of Students Who Receive Grants

Mid-summer, students and their supervisors will receive an email reminding them to meet and review their Letter of Commitment. At the end of the internship, students must submit a poster project with pictures describing their summer experience. In September, students will participate in a Funded Internship Poster Exhibition to share their summer internship experience with the campus community.

What We Ask of Sponsoring Organizations

Sponsoring organizations must provide:

• Commitment Letter. Letters can be sent electronically to the student to submit with their application. PDF is preferable. The letter should include the following:
  • That you are offering an internship to a student
  • Start and end dates for employment
  • Number of hours they are expected to work
  • Compensation (if any) that is provided by your organization
  • The learning opportunities for the student as well as their specific responsibilities
  • Supervisor's name, email, and phone number
• Work hours that total a minimum of 350 hours and a maximum of 400 hours of work during the summer break. No internship may exceed 40 hours per week to comply with wage and hour laws.
• A mid-summer check-in with the grant recipient to ensure progress toward learning goals.